There were two weeks left before the start of the school’s exhibition, and I decided to build a fifth piece of furniture that would be shown at the exhibition.
It needed to be something that I could design and build quickly, and for which there was sufficient wood available. So I picked a chair. The available wood was elm. And the elm boards had been rejected by other students as a consequence of their being shaped like bananas.
I wanted this chair to have exposed mortise and tenon joints – none of my previous projects had exposed joinery – and I wanted it to have a gap for your spine to fit into so that it was comfortable. I also wanted it to be large enough to be comfortable for me (6 ft tall) and others with long legs. Those were my requirements. Here is the result.
![](https://chapelhillfinefurniture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_1093-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://chapelhillfinefurniture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_1100-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://chapelhillfinefurniture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_1095-820x1024.jpg)
![](https://chapelhillfinefurniture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_1098-768x1024.jpg)
![](https://chapelhillfinefurniture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_1086-1024x768.jpg)
![](https://chapelhillfinefurniture.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/IMG_1099-1024x768.jpg)
Lots of people at the exhibition remarked as to how comfortable the chair was, and it was my only piece which sold. But I do ask myself the question, if it had been made out of something plain – like sycamore – would it have sold?